Autumn trees

We have had so much fun watching the trees change and it was great to make a poster to remind us of it.

First we used white crayon to draw some wispy clouds.

Then use blue paint for the sky (lovely for the children to magically see their previously invisible white clouds).

Use fingers for the branches. Biggest fingers first and then smaller and smaller.

Keep those fingers still when you do the print.

Lovely trees ready to be decorated.

Glue some sand on the ground and then start gluing on your leaves. Start with the green tree and work your way down, talking about how the leaves have changed and how different the trees look.

Autumn place mats

The children will love making their own place mats and perhaps a few extra to give as gifts.

Dry the leaves in a flower press for a few days to make sure they are nice and dry and flat.

Give each child a laminating pocket and show them the one side they need to put their leaves on. They can decorate it any way they like. Just try not to have too many overlapping as it gets too thick and also leave a little space around the edges.

Laminate and see their excitement at using them at the next meal.

Acorn bracelets

It's really simple to make these pretty acorn cup bracelets and your girls will love making them and wearing them.

Have fun collecting autumn items from the garden. Let the children colour in the acorn cups with felts.

Put clear drying glue in each cup and allow to dry overnight. Then use a glue gun to attach the acorn cups to a pipe cleaner. Let the girls select the acorn cups they want to use and allow them to pick their own pipe cleaner (it helps if they each chose a different colour as you then know whose is whose).

If you make a few "pairs" of the same colour then you can use some of the extras for a memory game too.

Easter Egg Hunt with a message

Our Easter Eggs with the Easter Story looking at some of the prophecies that were fulfilled.

I got the idea from here. Scroll down on the page and you will see the links to the pictures and verses. I did not use their number 11 egg but added the extra one with the crosses. And then I added the prophecies. So here are the details of prophecy (these I stuck onto the board), NT verse (recording the event as it happened - I glued the two together so that it was written out on one side and where it is found was on the other) and the picture. I handed the eggs out to the children (pictures only to those who could not read) and then as we read each prophecy the children had to find the appropriate verse and picture.

1) Zechariah 9:9 "Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

Mark 11:8 "Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields"

Palm (you could find a NT verse about the donkey and then rather use a picture of a donkey but I did not have time so I left it with the palm. The children linked it with no problem - it was the one event)

2) Psalm 41:9 "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me." AND Zechariah 11:13 "Then the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price as which I was valued by them.' So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord."

Matthew 26:14 "Then on of the twelve - the one called Judas Iscariot - went to the chief priests."

30 shekels

3) No prophecy - just recording the events.

Mark 14:22 "While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying 'Take it; this is my body.'"

Breaking of the bread.

4) No prophecy - just recording the events.

Mark 14:32 "They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I pray.'"

Hands praying.

5) Isaiah 53:5 "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed."

Matthew 27:26 "he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified."

Whip

6) Psalm 22:16 "For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet."

John 19:16 "Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified."

Nails

7) Psalm 22:7-8 "All who see me sneer at me; they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying 'Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.'"

Matthew 27: 39,43 "And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads... 'He trusts in God; let God rescue him now, if He delights in him; for he said 'I am the Son of God.'"

Mark 15:17 "They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him."

Crown of thorns (The picture goes with the 2nd NT verse and is a symbol for the mocking. The Gentiles mocked him with the crown and the robe but the Jews then mocked him on the cross - the prophecy being fulfilled exactly.)

8) Psalm 22:18 "They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots."

Mark 15:24 "And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get."

Dice

9)Zechariah 12:10 "So that they will look on Me whom they have pierced."

Exodus 12:46 "It is to be eaten in the single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it." (Instructions about the Passover lamb - Christ is the perfect Lamb of God - not one bone broken).

Psalm 34:20 "He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken."

John 19:34 "Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water." (It is "instead" of breaking his legs. They would often break the legs of the person being crucified to make sure they died. But Jesus had already died - they did not need to break his legs. But to make sure he was dead they pierced his side with a spear.)

Spear

10) Isaiah 53:12 "Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors."

Mark 15:27 "They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left."

3 crosses

11) Isaiah 53:9 "His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth."

Matthew 27:59-60 "Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb."

Cloths

12) Matthew 20:18019 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up."

Matthew 28:5-6 "The angle said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.'"

Angle and empty tomb.